Best Selling Books by Arthur C Clarke

This grand space adventure explores the fate of humanity a billion years in the future— A visionary classic by one of science fiction''s greatest minds. Far in the future, Earth''s oceans have evaporated and humanity has all but vanished. The inhabitants of Diaspar believe their domed city is all that remains of an empire that had once conquered the stars. Inside the dome, the citizens live in technological splendor, free from the distractions of aging and disease. Everything is controlled precisely, just as the city''s designers had intended. But a boy named Alvin, unlike his fellow humans, shows an insatiable—and dangerous—curiosity about the world outside the dome. His questions will send him on a quest to discover the truth about the city and humanity''s history—as well as its future. A masterful and awe-inspiring work of imagination, The City and the Stars is considered one of Arthur C. Clarke''s finest novels.

Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood''s End, The City and the Stars, and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke is the most celebrated science fiction author alive. He is—with H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein—one of the writers who define science fiction in our time. Now Clarke has cooperated in the preparation of a massive, definitive edition of his collected shorter works. From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre," through classics like "The Star," "Earthlight," "The Nine Billion Names of God," and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel, and movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God," this immense volume encapsulates one of the great SF careers of all time.

“A daring romp through the solar system and a worthy successor to 2001.”—Carl Sagan Nine years after the disastrous Discovery mission to Jupiter in 2001, a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition sets out to rendezvous with the derelict spacecraft—to search the memory banks of the mutinous computer HAL 9000 for clues to what went wrong…and what became of Commander Dave Bowman. Without warning, a Chinese expedition targets the same objective, turning the recovery mission into a frenzied race for the precious information Discovery may hold about the enigmatic monolith that orbits Jupiter. Meanwhile, the being that was once Dave Bowman—the only human to unlock the mystery of the monolith—streaks toward Earth on a vital mission of its own . . . “Clarke deftly blends discovery, philosophy, and a newly acquired sense of play.”—Time “2010 is easily Clarke’s best book in over a decade.”—The San Diego Tribune

From one of the bestselling science fiction authors of all time comes this heart-stopping far future novel of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. A century into the future, technology has solved most of the problems that have plagued our time. However, a new problem is on the horizon—one greater than humanity has ever faced. A massive asteroid is racing toward Earth, and its impact could destroy all life on the planet. Immediately after the asteroid—named "Kali" after the Hindu goddess of chaos and destruction—is discovered, the world''s greatest scientists begin researching a way to prevent the disaster. In the meantime, Cpt. Robert Singh, aboard the starship Goliath, may be the only person who can stop the asteroid. But this heroic role may demand the ultimate sacrifice. "Entertaining . . . [Clark] handles both ideas and characters with deftness and wit." — Chicago Sun-Times

“This is a space trip that no reader will want to miss.”—Playboy Years ago, the enormous, enigmatic alien spacecraft called Rama sailed through our solar system as mind-boggling proof that life existed—or had existed—elsewhere in the universe. Now, at the dawn of the twenty-third century, another ship is discovered hurtling toward us. A crew of Earth''s best and brightest minds is assembled to rendezvous with the massive vessel. They are armed with everything we know about Raman technology and culture. But nothing can prepare them for what they are about to encounter on board Rama II: cosmic secrets that are startling, sensational—and perhaps even deadly. “Offers one surprise after another.”—The New York Times “A masterpiece . . . one of the year’s best hard SF epics.”—The Houston Post

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Space Odyssey series comes a dazzling adventure of exploration and paradise lost. Just a few islands in a planetwide ocean, Thalassa was a veritable paradise—home to one of the small colonies founded centuries before by robot Mother Ships when the Sun had gone nova and mankind had fled Earth. Mesmerized by the beauty of Thalassa and overwhelmed by its vast resources, the colonists lived an idyllic existence, unaware of the monumental evolutionary event slowly taking place between their seas. . . . Then the Magellan arrived in orbit carrying one million refugees from the last, mad days on Earth. And suddenly uncertainty and change had come to the placid paradise that was Thalassa.

ufeffIf you want an omnibus of short fiction by Arthur C. Clarke, a Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master, then you want The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. If you''re looking for a representative sample of Clarke''s short stories, or for some examples of the creative and extrapolative abilities that established Clarke as one of science fiction''s greatest and most important writers, then check out Tales from Planet Earth. Tales from Planet Earth ranges widely across time, but the stories are centered on our home world. Many SF writers confine their visions of earth to its flatlands, but Clarke is three-dimensional; his stories "Hate," "The Deep Range," and "The Man Who Ploughed the Sea" plunge into the ocean, while "The Cruel Sky" ascends the Himalayas. Some stories, like "The Other Tiger" and "''If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth...,’" end on chilling twists. "The Road to the Sea" spans centuries and millennia to explore how humanity''s exodus to the stars may affect the world left behind. "Hate" considers how transcendence of the Earth''s atmosphere may affect ancient enmities. "The Parasite" demonstrates a scary nastiness not usually associated with Clarke. "The Wall of Darkness" is set on an alternate-universe earth so different from ours, and "The Lion of Comarre" is set in a future so far away, that both stories feel like fantasy; but both are rigorously extrapolated from scientific theory. Two lighthearted entertainments, "The Next Tenants" and "The Man Who Ploughed the Sea," are from Tales of the White Hart. All of the stories in Tales from Planet Earth are recommended. “Here...is a collection of Arthur''s science fiction stories, science fiction dealing with science, extrapolated intelligently. How you will enjoy it!" —ISAAC ASIMOV

Arthur C. Clarke’s 2061: Odyssey Three is truly a masterful elaboration on one man’s epic vision of the universe. Only rarely does a novelist weave a tapestry so compelling that it captures the imagination of the entire world. But that is precisely what Arthur C. Clarke accomplished with 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is even more unusual that an author is able to complement so well-received an invention with an equally successful sequel. But Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey Two enthralled a huge audience worldwide. Now, in 2061: Odyssey Three, Arthur C. Clarke revisits the most famous future ever imagined, as two expeditions into space are inextricably tangled by human necessity and the immutable laws of physics. And Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monoliths, must once again confront Dave Bowman—or whatever Bowman has become—a newly independent HAL, and the power of an alien race that has decided Mankind is to play a part in the evolution of the galaxy whether it wishes to or not.

A "superbly ingenious" classic of space survival from the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey—one of science fiction''s most influential grandmasters ( Daily Express). Expanding the Moon''s population hinges on building a thriving tourist industry. But when a prototype tourist craft called the Selene encounters a moonquake, the ship plummets under a vast body of liquid-fine moondust called the Sea of Thirst. While time runs out for the passengers and crew, rescuers find their resources stretched to the limit by the unpredictable conditions of the lunar environment. Nominated for the Hugo Award in 1963, this brilliantly imagined story of human ingenuity and survival is a tour-de-force of psychological suspense and sustained dramatic tension sure to appeal to fans of Andy Weir''s The Martian. "The best book yet about man''s most dramatic journey, the most exciting science fiction novel for years." — Evening Standard "Expertly told and cruelly exciting to the end." — The Sunday Times "Extremely good . . . with some superbly ingenious and exciting new twists." — Daily Express

This "marvelous lunar espionage thriller" by the science fiction grandmaster and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey "packs plenty of punch" (SFReviews.net). Two hundred years after landing on the Moon, mankind has moved further out into the solar system. With permanent settlements now established on the Moon, Venus, and Mars, the inhabitants of these colonies have formed a political alliance called the Federation. On the Moon, a government agent from Earth is tracking a suspected spy at a prominent observatory. His mission is complicated by the rise in tensions between Earth''s government and the Federation over access to rare heavy metals. As the agent finds himself locked in a battle for life and death on the eerie, lunar landscape, the larger conflict explodes across space, leaving mankind''s future in doubt. First published in 1955, this suspense-filled space opera by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inductee was a significant forerunner of television hits like Star Trek and The Expanse.

The mysteries of the monoliths are revealed in this inspired conclusion to the Hugo Award–winning Space Odyssey series—"there are marvels aplenty" ( The New York Times). On an ill-fated mission to Jupiter in 2001, the mutinous supercomputer HAL sent crewmembers David Bowman and Frank Poole into the frozen void of space. Bowman''s strange transformation into a Star Child is traced through the novels 2010 and 2061. But now, a thousand years after his death, Frank Poole is brought back to life—and thrust into a world far more technically advanced than the one he left behind. Poole discovers a world of human minds interfacing directly with computers, genetically engineered dinosaur servants, and massive space elevators built around the equator. He also discovers an impending threat to humanity lurking within the enigmatic monoliths. To fight it, Poole must join forces with Bowman and HAL, now fused into one corporeal consciousness—and the only being with the power to thwart the monoliths'' mysterious creators. " 3001 is not just a page-turner, plugged in to the great icons of HAL and the monoliths, but a book of wisdom too, pithy and provocative." — New Scientist

Giant silver ships appear above every major city in the world. The Overlords have arrived. They eliminate ignorance, disease, poverty, and fear. After fifty years they also start eliminating humans. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

It has been forty years since the publication of this classic science fiction novel that changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man adventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other. This allegory about humanity''s exploration of the universe, and the universe''s reaction to humanity, was the basis for director Stanley Kubrick''s immortal film, and lives on as a hallmark achievement in storytelling.